


Welcome to the Superhero Sidekick Club

by bettername2come



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Gen, I can't write post-finale Iris without it turning into angst, but all of the guys have "died" on them at least once, it's getting old fellas, seriously this was supposed to just be female bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:46:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4309248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettername2come/pseuds/bettername2come
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Caitlin and Felicity welcome Iris to the team, fill her in on some missing information and bond over the guys' unfortunate habit of dying in the line of duty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Superhero Sidekick Club

Oliver and Felicity arrive in Central City a couple of weeks into their road trip vacation. It doesn’t take long for Barry and Oliver to take off for training, with Cisco and Ronnie trailing behind, talking excitedly about drones and lasers and other things that make Felicity incredibly nervous. Rather than stay to watch, she finds her way to the Cortex where Iris is researching their metahuman of the week. “Welcome to the superhero sidekick club! All the stress, very little of the glory.”

“Is this the part where you tell me you were trying to protect me? That you didn’t want me to worry?” Iris replies, turning back to the computer screen. “’Cause I’ve gotten enough of that from my dad and Barry.” 

“No, this is the part where I say I was trying to protect _Barry_ , and since I know that’s what you would do too, I know you’ll forgive me.” She settles down in the seat next to Iris. “I’m very particular about who I reveal secret identities to.” 

“Barry says you told Malcolm Merlyn his identity when he went to rescue you guys for Oliver.” 

Felicity almost chokes on her coffee. “And apparently, Barry is less particular about revealing secret identities.” 

“Well, it was on the news. I mean, I know that Roy kid confessed afterward, but a billionaire that Barry _just happened_ to meet when visiting Starling City just before he got struck by lightning and started fighting crime himself is accused of being a vigilante? The same vigilante who _just happened_ to visit Central City and save me and Eddie from the Flash at the same time that Oliver Queen _just happened_ to be visiting? So yeah, Barry filled in some blanks, but I managed to figure the identities out on my own.” 

Felicity nods. “Barry’s a good guy. Not just in the ‘he fights bad guys’ kind of way…I know he screws up a lot, but he means well, ya know?” 

Iris smiles. “Yeah, I do.” She sighs. “I just wish he had trusted me. He just keeps saying he wanted to protect me and he was trying to listen to my dad, but I stay a lot safer when I know I’m in danger. I know how to protect myself. Who was it that laid out Tony Woodward when he was still coming for Barry? Me. Who shot the Clock King when Barry didn’t even show up to the crime scene? Me.” 

“You shot Tockman?” Felicity asks, sounding impressed. 

“Well, he was trying to shoot me.” 

“He _did_ shoot me!” And suddenly Felicity is shrugging off her jacket to reveal a dime-sized bullet scar on her right shoulder. “He was aiming for a friend of mine. Plus he blew up a ton of my tech, which is totally unacceptable.” 

Iris smiles. “You sound like Cisco.” 

“There are worse people to sound like. So he and Caitlin haven’t already given you the lowdown on Team Flarrow?” 

“Team Flarrow?” 

Felicity continues on as if she hasn’t heard her. “Although, with Arrow officially retired, the team up’s probably going to have to have a different nickname. Cisco should get on that.” She shakes her head. “Anyway, as I was trying to say, there are some benefits to being on this team.” 

“Medical and dental?” 

“No. Although between Diggle and Caitlin you’re pretty much set for patching up bullet wounds, stab wounds, and curing superabililty-giving drugs.” 

Something clicks in Iris’s brain. It had been one of the few news stories that Iris had actually noticed while Barry was in a coma. Crazy people with powers striking out against the city months before superhuman abilities started surfacing in Central City. The Arrow and his team had stopped them, using some unknown cure against an unknown drug. Come to think of it, Cisco and Caitlin had seemed awfully busy around that time. 

“That was Caitlin? But that was months before Barry woke up.” 

“Yeah, I was already asking for favors by then. And, for the record, I did not tell them anything about Oliver, so they were just as out of the loop then as you’ve been. And they still helped out. Which brings me to my next point: Outside of all the secrets and lies, there’s a lot of loyalty and trust. I mean, in how many friendships could you call someone up and say ‘Hey, can you help me take down my supervillain mentor?’ or ‘Can you race out to this assassins’ compound five thousand miles away and save our friends?’ And honestly, it’s been way too much of a boys’ club so I welcome all new female members.” 

“No,” Caitlin pipes up as she enters the room and takes a seat opposite Felicity. “You do not get to play the ‘surrounded by boys’ card. You have Lyla. And Laurel.” Off Felicity’s quizzical expression she adds, “Cisco told us when she came to him for her Canary Cry. And by the way, how did she know Cisco’s name, much less that he was the go-to guy for superhero costume modifications?” 

Amused, Iris turns to face Felicity, whose cheeks reddened as she realized she’d been busted. “I don’t suppose I could convince you it was Ray that told her, could I? Or Oliver? No, no, if there’s one thing that man can do it’s keep a secret.” 

“It’s fine. At least Cisco has one leather-clad fake blonde who knows how to ask him for weapons _nicely_.” Both Iris and Felicity shoot her confused looks at that one, but she just waves them off. “Long story.” 

Felicity shrugs and turns back to Iris. “Like I said, we don’t share every little detail. Which is why I’m just getting around to telling you that Oliver’s sister knows about him, and Roy is totally still alive.” 

“And I’m guessing that explains who the girl running around in a modified version of his costume is.” 

Iris puts her hands to her temples. “That is a lot of information to take in in thirty seconds. How is TMZ not all over this? When he ‘died’ and reappeared it was a media circus. You couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing him, and then just…nothing. If the Kardashians started running around fighting crime, someone would have it figured out in a day.” And there’s a small part of her that is just dying to get an exclusive story out of this, but she stomps it back down. 

Felicity just shakes her head. “I think with all the murder and mayhem surrounding the Queen family the paparazzi decided it was safer to give them a wide berth rather than investigate too closely and get caught in the crossfire.” 

Iris nods knowingly. “Yeah, we’re getting some of that here. You’d be amazed how many networks won’t send reporters into a city that’s had a black hole open up right above it. On the plus side, my coverage of the Flash closing it got picked up by the AP wire.” 

Never mind that she lost someone she loved when that cataclysmic event happened. Never mind that her world felt like it was ending. People needed to know someone was there who would fight till the end, bring the world back from the brink of destruction. In a world gone mad, they needed that little push of hope, and if she was the best person to bring it to them, she could push aside her own grief and heartache to bring it to them. And between her newfound career success and the work she’s doing for Team Flash, she’s been so busy she’s barely had time to think about Eddie. 

Which is probably why it all hits her so hard here, now, talking with Caitlin and Felicity. Felicity smiles, oblivious to Iris’s suddenly recurring heartache. “Yeah. Oliver admits he’s happy, and a wormhole opens up and tries to swallow the earth whole. We’re trying not to see a correlation, but I might have yelled ‘This is why we can’t have nice things!’ at the newscast.” 

“You think that’s bad? It was my freaking wedding day! If that doesn’t sound like a bad marriage omen, nothing will.” 

And suddenly the mental image pops into Iris’s head. Holding Eddie’s hand for the last time at Caitlin and Ronnie’s wedding. Raising the bouquet high and thinking, _Someday._

_Screw the future._

“Excuse me,” Iris says quickly as she heads out of the lab. 

“What just-? Oh,” Felicity says as she realizes what sparked Iris’s sudden change. “Barry told me about Eddie, I just –I wasn’t thinking.” 

“God, I can’t believe I just did that,” Caitlin says. “I’ve been where she is. I should’ve known better.” 

“At least our self-sacrificing heroes came back from the dead,” Felicity replies. “C’mon. I don’t think she needs to be alone right now.” 

Caitlin leads the way down to the pipeline, where she’s almost positive Iris is. It’s the closest thing Eddie has to a grave. He’s officially listed as “missing and presumed dead.” They haven’t exactly been able to explain the truth behind his death. The official story is that Eddie, detective for the CCPD, had bravely tried to evacuate the area around STAR Labs when the wormhole had opened and been pulled in before The Flash managed to close it. 

Iris is sitting on the floor staring at the spot where Eddie fell. She barely looks up when Caitlin and Felicity take a seat on either side of her. 

“I couldn’t come down here for months after Ronnie …disappeared. I just couldn’t stop replaying those last moments in my head. When I finally did, it…it helped. I got to say goodbye.” 

A sardonic smile played at the corners of Iris’s lips. “But you got him back. And I got Barry back. And apparently I am out of miracles.” 

“He helped save the world,” Felicity says. “I barely knew him, but he wanted to help people. He wanted to protect you. And I know it probably doesn’t mean much, but it’s no small thing to say that he died knowing that was what he did.” 

“Stupid heroes.” 

“Stupid heroes,” Felicity agrees. “They go and throw themselves in harm’s way and leave us to deal with the aftermath. And you want to be mad at them, but you can’t. They’re saving lives.” 

“I’ve been a cop’s daughter my whole life. I wanted to be a cop. I thought I got the risks involved in this life, but…” 

“This is not a life you can imagine before it happens,” Caitlin finishes. “This is supervillains and science fiction and nothing that anyone teaches you about when you’re preparing for the ‘real world.’” 

“Although I do have an extensive collection of video games that have turned out to be surprisingly accurate,” Felicity chimes in, earning a small laugh from Iris. 

“How do you do it? How do you watch them go off and throw themselves in front of the bad guys?” 

“Because it’s easier than the alternative. Believe me I tried to walk away from this after Oliver…but walking away meant turning my back on everything we had been working toward, on innocent people who needed help. I couldn’t do it.” 

Caitlin nods. “I helped Wells create this mess that the city’s in now, and I have to help fix it. Doesn’t hurt that no other lab would hire me after the particle accelerator blew, so I kind of have to stay here. What about you?” 

“What about me?” Iris says 

“You started your blog because you wanted to give this city hope. You wanted to give people the truth.” 

“Little harder to give people the truth, now that I actually know it. Little hard to give people hope when I’m not feeling much of it myself.” 

Felicity smiles. “Two weeks ago Starling was almost decimated by a supervirus. Then the world was ending. Now it’s not. And that gives me a lot of hope.” Felicity stands up. 

“So, what do you say, staying in the club?” she asks, holding out a hand. 

Iris smiles and takes Felicity’s hand, pulling herself up. “You can’t make the impossible possible by yourself.” 

Caitlin rises to her feet. “No you can’t.” 

Cisco’s voice pops up over the speakers. “Hey, Caitlin! Can you guys get to the Cortex? We could use some help.” 

Caitlin clicks on the headset. “We’re on our way. What’s the problem?” 

“Oliver shot me again!” Barry yells in the background. 

“Again?” Iris mouths. 

“I was aiming for the drone!” 

“The drone I grabbed and was trying to throw!” 

“You moved in front of the arrow after I fired and didn’t get out of the way fast enough! I told you, ‘Fastest Man Alive,’ you have to be more aware of your surroundings!” 

Caitlin sighs and switches the headset back off. “Your boyfriend and I are going to have some serious words about him shooting my patient. Again.” 

“For the record, I was very specific about him not doing that. Boys. You can’t leave them alone for ten minutes.” 

Iris shakes her head following the others back to the Cortex. At least whatever happens next, she’ll be a part of it.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be light Iris/Felicity bonding about how they kicked Tockman's ass, and then Caitlin showed up, and their boyfriends' habit of dying heroically came up and then it was 3 a.m. and what the heck did I write?


End file.
